


darling, it’s been so long (take me home)

by jeongmoz



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Fairy (?) AU, Romance, also samo soulmates, background chaeyu, background jeonghyo, background minayeon, i saw sana's more and more concept teaser last june and i have not known peace ever since, so here, this is self indulgent i just wanted to give sana powers, this isn't going to be angsty dw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:22:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26733532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeongmoz/pseuds/jeongmoz
Summary: Momo wanders to the fields and sees Sana.Sana sees Momo and her soul screams, I think I know you.orsamo au where momo's a human looking for peace, sana's a powerful being looking for something she's lost, and they end up finding it in each other.
Relationships: Hirai Momo/Minatozaki Sana
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	darling, it’s been so long (take me home)

**_01\. my soul will find yours_ **

Momo starts dreaming about _it_ several months ago.

It’s her and another girl and it always plays out the same. The scene looks like it’s taken from one of those fairy tale books her mother used to read to her and Hana when they were kids; they’re in the woods, it’s bright and sunny but her skin doesn’t burn thanks to the giant gingko trees surrounding them like their own wooden fortress. It’s a pretty sight, everything else except for the girl’s white dress, however, is blurry and unclear. She could smell fire from a distance and she hears the girl beg her to stay, she hears her say ‘ _don’t do this’._ The desperation is apparent, it rings loudly and it makes her heart twist into several thousands of knots. Momo hears her own voice answer with an ‘ _I love you’_ before the vision fades to black.

She always wakes up crying.

Momo hasn’t known peace since. She often thinks of the girl and wonders who it is, tries to understand what the dream meant because it’s been a recurring thing so it _must_ mean something — it must be important.

A month or two after the first time she dreams of her and the girl in the white dress, Momo begins to think of running away. The city was beginning to suffocate her, beginning to kill the sliver of life left in her — maybe the dream is a sign, a sign for her to leave the city and live somewhere peaceful. Maybe the girl was some kind of manifestation of who she was before all the shit she’s suffered through, before the terrible and very scarring break up she had with some guy she doesn’t want to even think about almost half a year ago. 

She decides she wants to run away — no, she _needs_ to run away, to escape. She longs for control, for freedom because she’s lost so much of herself to the city, to other people, and she needs it back.

Her friends, Jeongyeon and Jihyo, who left the city a year before she did, were kind enough to offer to let her stay with them.

“You’d love it here,” Jihyo tells her when Momo shares her plans of taking a breather.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother.”

“Of course,” her friend reassures her, “I need help at the flower shop since Jeongyeon’s busy with the bakery. It’d be a perfect distraction for you.”

So Momo leaves her apartment during one bright mid-April morning and steps on the train to the countryside, armed with only a few duffel bags filled with clothes, shoes, and books.

The first thing she notices when she reaches the town is how it looks gloomy; it looks picturesque, breathtaking with its high mountains, sprawling vegetation, it’s beautiful but she could immediately tell that there was something _missing,_ like there was an invisible shroud of despair that enveloped its entirety. The plants were a dull shade of green, some of them yellowing despite it being springtime, stems of flowers droop to the ground and the petals looked lifeless.

Jeongyeon picks her up at the station and they drive to their place. Momo stares out the window, looking at the fleeting image of the clock tower, shops, restaurants, and even a few bars as she halfheartedly listens to her friend’s stories, mind still bothered by the dreariness of the town.

It isn’t enough to scare her though, it isn’t enough to send her running back to the city because she figures a gloomy town is leagues better than where she grew up, where she lived. So as they speed past the landscape, Momo immediately decides to make a home out of it.

\--

“This is yours,” Jihyo says, pushing the second door in the hallway open revealing a room with a queen sized bed with several pillows near the headboard.

Momo blinks, partly stunned by the coziness that the room exudes, the décor suited her just fine; the lamp on the bedside table is white and oval-shaped, the bedspread is a shade of light pink, Momo’s sure her two friends had taken time to pick it out just for her. Her heart swells with appreciation while she listens to Jihyo continue, “Our room is right next to yours.” Jeongyeon pushes past them, her feet making soft thuds when she walks on the carpeted floor as she carries the rest of Momo’s bags with her.

“And you’ve already seen everything else so I think that’s about it.” Jihyo finishes as Jeongyeon places her bags next to her bed, “We hope you like it, Mo.”

Momo steps inside, feeling a grin forming on her face; the house is simple, not too flashy or extravagant but it’s bigger than she thought it would be and she deduces that Jeongyeon and Jihyo really did take everything they had and built a life for themselves here.

She turns back to her, “I love it, Ji. It feels so _homey_.”

“Right? Homier than our apartment back in the city.” Jihyo replies, crossing her arms across her chest proudly.

“Are you sure it’s okay that I stay here for a while?”

“Of course, dummy,” Jihyo says with a laugh, “You can stay as long as you’d like.”

“Are you sure you won’t suddenly kick me out when you and Jeong decide to have kids?” Momo says teasingly.

“Please. She _is_ a child. Dealing with one kid is enough.”

“Don’t act like you don’t love me, Park Jihyo!” Jeongyeon complains as she flings a pillow in Jihyo’s direction which hits her on the back. The latter turns around and chucks it back at her before turning her attention back to Momo again, “See? A literal child.”

Momo chuckles, not missing the hint of a smile on Jihyo’s face.

She feels like she’s back in college; Jeongyeon and Jihyo we’re still in denial about their feelings, the three of them having pizza nights at the dorm, holding messy game nights that involved loud bets and harmless trash talk when a round of Mario Kart gets intense. Momo feels a grin forming.

She looks at her friends and thinks, _maybe I did the right thing._

\--

Sana has been angry.

She’s on her twentieth? Fiftieth? Hundredth life? She’s lost count. Years after succumbing to this _cursed_ cycle _,_ Sana’s kind of lost track of time. She just feels like she’s been living in one long endless day and she wishes she could just sleep for good. Her friends, women who suffer the same fate she does, live in each of the four kingdoms — Nayeon guards the North, Mina reigns in the South, and Tzuyu the West — and Sana hasn’t visited any of them in a while. Her sorry excuse for company is someone she despises and that someone isn’t even human. She supposes she can’t complain too much, it’s not like she was wholly human either — not anymore.

Sana rolls to her side, body already numb to the rocky surface of the ground she was sprawled upon. She sees a bright light in front of her and she feels anger bubble up inside her chest. She picks up a few pebbles within her arms’ reach and hurls it lazily at the source of light.

“That doesn’t really hurt, you know,” the light says to her, clearly unbothered.

Sana throws the last rock before grunting in frustration, “That’s because you don’t materialize, coward.”

“You’re in a good mood.” 

“Your sarcasm isn’t welcome, Mago,” she mutters glumly, lying on her back again.

“The flowers looked sad today.” Mago tells her, making Sana roll her eyes.

“You should find a replacement then,” she says snarkily, throwing another pebble at the glowing entity.

“If I could, I would. I’d look for someone less annoying.”

Sana lets out a shaky breath, “I didn’t ask for this.”

“You were _chosen_ ,” the entity replies simply, stating a fact that has been drilled into Sana’s head for years but the latter has somehow refused to acknowledge it.

“I wasn’t. It wasn’t supposed to be me.”

“It’s an honor still.” Mago argues.

“It’s a curse.” Sana says stubbornly, she groans and grabs the next thing she could get her hands on — her phone — and flings it at Mago.

If she was being honest, it really isn’t that much of a curse, some people argue that it’s a blessing to be chosen for this, to be given powers beyond understanding, to be the master of the Earth and its elements. But Sana disagrees to her very core, to her it’s a very _shitty_ thing to be given. She didn’t ask for this, she didn’t beg for it, she has this because she was spared but she wishes she were dead instead. She’s aired her complaints, her desire for an end in every single one of her lives but Mago would only tell her that death wouldn’t really solve her problems, and that she’d wake up in her next life and do this all over again anyway. 

She’s stuck in a cruel cycle.

“Sana —”

“How long has it been?” Sana whispers, looking up at the lavender sky and reaching an arm out just to see if she could touch it, an action spurned by half-hearted wonder and curiosity. Mago sighs, her light glowing brighter as the sun sets further, “It’s been a hundred years, Sana.”

“Ah,” Sana chuckles at the confirmation, bitterness echoing along her hoarse laughter, “That long already, huh?”

Beside her, Mago doesn’t speak. The field grows silent except for the crickets scattered around the whole place. Sana puts her arm down and faces Mago, eyes not bothered by the brightness of her glow.

“Show it to me again,” she continues after a moment, the masochism boiling in her blood.

“Why do you insist on hurting yourself?” Mago asks, there’s frustration in her usually calm tone.

“I’m not hurting myself.” Sana replies, it’s far from the truth but she doesn’t care; she doesn’t care because she’s pathetic and desperate, clinging to the last pieces of her first life that held her sanity together.

“You are.”

“I don’t care. I’ve already lost everything,” she tells the light, hands balled into fists at her side.

Mago stills.

“Show me,” she says, softer this time, “Show me the life I could have had with her.”

Mago doesn’t respond.

Sana growing even more desperate, “Please.”

It takes a moment but Mago moves forward, drawing closer to Sana, the field disappears and nothing else exists except for a very bright light. Sana shuts her eyes, a strong gust of wind passes her and Sana sees flashes of the future that was supposed to be hers.

She sees herself, hair chestnut colored instead of the red orange one she has now, in a pub drinking beer? Rum? Whiskey? She doesn’t really know but she can’t bring herself to care because she sees _her_ , raven haired and pink cheeked, beside her and laughing like Sana had just told her the world’s funniest joke.

There’s another flash and the scene disappears, she then sees the two of them wrapped around each other on the bed, for a second Sana swears she could feel the girl’s arms around her and it makes her want to cry. She sees them walking hand in hand on the streets, orange leaves falling like snowflakes from the trees. She sees them kissing, hugging. She sees them in a house, curled up on the couch together, reading books and drinking tea, four dogs sleeping on the carpeted floor below them.

The last flash she sees is of _her,_ lips moving to say _‘I love you’_ before her vision grows dark. Sana sits up and breaks into a fit of hysterical laughter, she’s aware of how insane and deranged she sounds but she doesn’t give a shit, she’s allowed to react like this.

“It’s not fucking _fair_. It’s not fucking fair!” she shouts, all the hurt and all the anger from the past hundred years spilling out of her. Sana feels like her heart’s been ripped to shreds, she falls to the ground, prostrating as her hands curl into fists. Her laughter dissolves into weeping, she feels hot streaks of tears spilling from the corners of her eyes.

“It could have been mine,” she sobs, chest feeling constricted, “I could have had a life with her. I could have been _happy_.” Sana spits out the word ‘happy’ like poison.

Her weeping fills the fields, the plants around her dry up and sag to the ground, the crickets grow silent.

“It’s not fair,” she whispers, lying on the ground once again.

“It was only a small possibility,” Mago replies tonelessly, “Even if she was still alive, _you_ wouldn’t be here. It’s a losing battle.”

Sana faces her, “Fuck you.” She laughs bitterly, “You weren’t playing fair.”

Mago stays still, speechless; they’ve had this conversation a million times over the past hundred years already, she’s grown rather tired of telling Sana that she had no choice, that this was her fate.

“I want this to be over. Just kill me now.” Sana stares at Mago defiantly, daring her to end her, “You’re an all-powerful god, I’m sure you can do it.”

“Oh, I can but I don’t want to.” Mago answers, “You’re the guardian of this town, and the whole Eastern kingdom, Sana. Your soul is bound to it for all eternity.”

 _No, you’re wrong,_ she wants to say, _my soul’s already bound to someone._

_Not this town._

_Not this kingdom._

“I didn’t fucking ask for it.” Sana tells her instead, she harshly wipes her tears away and turns away from Mago, “Leave me alone. Let me sleep.”

“It’s supposed to be spring, Sana, but the flowers look sad, the crops are barely even growing, and the land is about to go dry. Sooner or later you have to put your personal emotions behind you and focus on your responsibility.” Mago tells her, Sana chooses not to respond and curls further into a ball.

 _How dare she say that like it’s very fucking easy to do?_ she thinks to herself, anger rising to her chest.

After a beat, she hears Mago let out a breath of resignation, “I’ll see you again soon.”

Mago’s light disappears and Sana’s left alone again.

The sky turns dark and Sana decides not to retire to her cottage, her body and mind too tired to move. She hugs her knees as she shuts her eyes, begging for an end to this. She imagines the girl from her vision, imagines her wrapping Sana into an embrace, telling her things are going to be okay.

During her first few years as a guardian, Sana doesn’t sleep. Because when she closes her eyes all she sees are blood, scattered bodies, and fire. She hears the screams and the weeping of people. She closes her eyes and she gets to watch the love of her life get taken away from her. The image used to scare her, but now she finds that it’s better than to not see her at all.

Truth is, Sana has been lonely.

\--

The next day, Sana decides to head out early.

It’s spring, time for new beginnings and all that crap and Sana’s already done her job at welcoming it, making sure the plants were growing but apparently, she hasn’t done a good job since Mago had told her the night before that ‘ _the flowers looked sad’._

She rolls her eyes at the memory of her all-knowing tone as she continues walking. She hates Mago but Sana isn’t irresponsible, hence, there she was, heading out to see if everything else is up to code and to see if there is anything else that needed fixing.

 _It’s hot out,_ she thinks to herself as she makes her way to the flower fields near the park the following day. Sana has seen enough of the town to get sick of it; it’s a charming one, quaint and simple, the kind where everyone knows everyone, the kind where the sense of familiarity and camaraderie have already settled in years past. She supposes it’s appealing, ideal for tourists and for people who have never known life outside the city.

To her, however, it’s a constant slap in the face, a grim reminder of the life, of the future that was stolen from her.

She loves the people who live in the town, loves the animals that take shelter there, the flowers and trees that take root in its earth. She might hate the fact that she’s stuck here but she loves them enough to not destroy it, to not let herself lay on the fields and wait for her absolute destruction as she lets the town rot with her. She hates that she was chosen but she’s still doing her job as best as she could, given her constant desire for death.

She arrives at the field, several acres of land spreading wide in front of her eyes. Normally, there were people who spent long hours of the day there, lounging, sitting around having picnics with their kids and families, some of them sit alone drink up the sunlight. During those days, Sana perches herself up on an oak tree and observes. Those days Sana watches them and thinks about the life she could have had.

That particular day, however, it’s practically empty save for the cleaning aides on the pathways. People can’t see her unless she makes herself visible so whether the field is empty or not isn’t usually a big deal but that day, Sana isn’t in the mood to deal with children who bump into her while they play, she isn’t in the mood to be invisible either. 

She smiles as she runs off to the farthest side of the field, careful not to be seen by the few people who are the park. Once she deems it safe, Sana lets herself fall on her back as if the tall grass beneath her were ready to catch her. It’s good exercise, she reasons, and she deserves to have a little fun.

Sana giggles to herself, running her hands over them as she soaks in the April heat, bouquets of flowers spring up from the ground where her hands pass. It’s in moments like this where she finds a speck of peace, of contentment, but of course it’s fleeting.

She picks a poppy off the ground and holds it up to examine it. It’s red and it’s beautiful, truly a product of magic, but the color isn’t rich as it should be, it’s pale rather than bright and it slumps down just a few seconds after Sana plucks it out.

She picks off another one, a coneflower this time, and the same thing happens. In the spirit of her own stubbornness she plucks out a daisy and like the previous flowers, it looks dull and lifeless and it droops low after a few seconds. She does this over and over again, the wave of contentment and joy she felt earlier already gone and a rush of frustration replaces them. Sana sits up, looking at the blooms around her, and sighs.

As much as she hates to admit it, Mago was right, the flowers looked miserable.

Sana tries again, waving her fingers lazily over the grass. It doesn’t take long for flowers to spring up from the ground. She looks over at them, willing them to cooperate with her just to get Mago off her ass about doing a terrible job at being a guardian.

“Please work with me here, my babies,” she pleads loudly. But the flowers, like their master herself, were as stubborn as a mule. She plucks out a daffodil and huffs out an exasperated breath.

“Look, I know you respond to whatever I’m feeling but can you please just fake it at least,” she mumbles to the flower as if it’s a baby. The daffodil only slumps down in response.

“Oh, come _on_.” Sana says, practically whining.

“Are you… okay?” a voice from her left asks. Sana drops the flower and turns her head swiftly to where the voice came from, half-expecting some kind of threat or an ambush.

What she sees instead is a girl in a peach colored shirt and a patchwork skirt that reaches her feet, staring at her in confusion.

Sana feels like her heart could burst.

\--

Armed with her garden hat, Momo has decided to take a walk in an attempt to explore the town alone as per Jihyo’s suggestion. It’s been two days since she’s arrived and she figures Jihyo was right. It would be best to get acquainted with the town and get to know her way around the place without Jeongyeon’s or Jihyo’s help.

“Are you sure though?” Jihyo asks her again when they walk together to Jihyo’s shop that morning, shielding her eyes from the sunlight, “I could go with you since I don’t have to open the shop this early unlike Jeong.”

Momo nods and gives her friend a reassuring smile, “Yep, I’m sure. Because you’re right, it’s better if I get familiar with this place.”

Jihyo throws her another skeptical glance once they arrive at the flower shop; this makes Momo chuckle.

“Oh, come on, Ji. I promise I won’t get lost.” Momo assures her. Her friend sighs and waves her hand off dismissively, “Fine, fine. If you need anything just call me, okay?”

“Yes, _mom_.”

“Shut up.”

Momo laughs, holding onto the strap of her bucket bag before turning her heels around, “I’ll see you later.”

Jihyo waves her goodbye before entering her shop and Momo sets off on her journey.

\--

She spends her first few hours walking around main street, trying not to instantly regret doing this alone. A small part of her does though, she’s on her own and it means that she’s alone with her thoughts, that she has more space to think about her current decisions. But she knows for sure that she isn’t in the right headspace, the right state of mind to sit and think about her goals, her motivations, her plans for the future; she’s here for a chance at freedom and she refuses to be chained by her intrusive thoughts so she busies herself by browsing several shops, trying out snacks from the shops around the center of the town. Momo takes notes on her phone, memorizing the names of the streets, the quickest routes that would take her to the best restaurants and shops, anything to distract her. She walks near the docks for a while too, aimlessly watching small boats on the water and the people going about their everyday life.

She’s struck by just how beautiful the town is, her view from Jeongyeon’s car two days ago was nothing compared to seeing it up close, compared to actually being in the thick of it. However, something still feels off, it’s the same thing she’s noticed when she first arrived; like its beauty is somehow shrouded by something else — an air of loneliness, she thinks.

Momo follows a small bike trail away from the docks and she ends up in a park. The clearing is huge; there are benches carefully placed in safe distance from each other, there are lampposts beside the trails, tall grasses and myriads of flowers take up every visible space, and huge trees encircle the entire field.

“Holy shit,” she murmurs to herself; it’s one of the most tranquil landscapes she’s ever seen, it’s the stuff of fairy tales and paintings. The sunlight shifts, leaks between the leaves and rests on her awestruck face. Momo automatically adjusts her hat to shield her eyes from the sudden glare.

She grins to herself before traipsing onto the field, her brown Oxfords hitting the ground softly as she does. Momo looks around, snapping a few pictures with her phone before she takes it all in, it’s all too stunning and she decides that this place puts all the places she’s ever been in to shame. She’s so wrapped up in awe that she doesn’t notice she’s already halfway across the field.

“ _Please work with me here, my babies._ ”

The voice she hears snaps her out of her trance, it sounds familiar, a distant memory. Momo quickly turns her gaze over to where it’s coming from.

Sitting right in the middle of a cluster of flowers and grass is a girl, her hair as bright as ripe clementine; she’s wearing a strapless, layered, lilac colored dress, a ribbon of the same color holds her fiery locks together into a low ponytail. Momo subconsciously moves forward, curious — there’s something so familiar about her, like she’s met her before. The girl seems to be picking flowers, holding them close and examining them intently. Momo hears her say, “Look, I know you respond to whatever I’m feeling but can you please just fake it at least.”

Momo’s face twists in confusion, _is the girl **talking** to the flowers she’s plucking? _

“Oh, come _on.”_ She hears the girl whine.

Unable to restrain herself, Momo speaks up and asks her, “Are you… okay?”

The girl pauses for a split second before dropping the flower and whipping her head towards Momo. Her first thought isn’t about running or fleeing from this weirdo, it’s about how beautiful she is; her allure is different — otherworldly, _unearthly._ Momo doesn’t move, she just tightens her grip around her bag strap and remains planted on her spot.

 _Ugh,_ she groans inwardly, leave it to her to go into shock in the presence of pretty girls like this one regardless if they were coming off as complete weirdos.

They lock eyes and Momo watches the girl’s face go through a series of expressions; from momentary shock, to intense questioning before finally settling on a smile. Momo blinks, stunned by the sight.

“Hi,” the girl breathes out, syrup colored irises still holding Momo’s chocolate ones. Momo finds herself wanting to say: _there you are, it’s been years._

“I— uh, we’re you _talking_ to the _flower_ or something?” Momo replies instead, she’s curious about that as well anyways.

“Yeah,” the girl laughs, as if sitting in a field alone and talking to flowers like they were going to answer her is a totally normal thing to do, “I can’t believe you caught me! You’re lucky, you know? I rarely let myself be visible to people.”

Momo knits her brows together, “Um,” she says, unable to understand whatever the girl had just said to her.

The girl doesn’t seem to notice Momo’s lack of comprehension because she continues talking like there’s no problem at all, “Tell me, pretty lady, what are you doing in a place like this?”

“Huh?”

“Oh, you know. You’re at the farthest corner of an empty field, there might be odd things around here.”

Momo folds her arms across her chest, “Yeah, like weirdos who talk to flowers.”

The girl laughs again, Momo thinks it might be one of the sweetest sounds she’s heard in her life, “Exactly.”

Silence settles between them when Momo doesn’t give her a response, she’s too busy debating whether or not to leave or stay and talk to this girl.

“Hey, do you think these flowers look terrible?” the girl asks suddenly, holding out a daffodil. Momo takes a look at the flower in front of her and actually examines it intently, as if they were children and everything in the world was a discovery. She raises her brows when she finishes inspecting it, “No?”

“But?” the girl presses on.

“What?”

“You sounded unsure so I figured there was a ‘but’ coming.”

“Right.”

“Well?”

“They don’t look _that_ terrible per se, they just, uh, look _lackluster_? Like the life’s been sucked out of them. The colors look dull.”

“Lifeless.” the girl adds, nodding to herself slowly, “What do you think I should do to, you know, make it better?”

“Um. Unless you’re an extremely great horticulturist, I doubt there’s anything you could do to make it better.”

“These,” she says motioning to plant life around her, “are my babies. I can actually do a lot to make it better. Only question is what.”

Momo stares at her, the girl is definitely becoming one of the most bizarre people she’s ever met and Momo’s from the city so that’s really saying something.

“ _Your babies_ ,” Momo repeats.

The girl nods once, “Yep. Do you wanna see more?” There’s a wave of excitement in the girl’s tone and Momo wonders if she actually stumbled across someone certifiably insane.

“More of what? Flowers?”

The girl doesn’t reply, instead, she stretches an arm out towards Momo’s direction and waves her hand lazily. Momo could hear the ground beside her feet rumbling softly and out comes a cluster of blooms; cornflowers, irises, buttercups, thistles, poppies, bluebells, heathers. The sight sends Momo’s mind into shock.

“What the fuck.” Momo curses, caught off guard, “That did not just happen.”

“I don’t know what to tell you except it certainly did,” the girl in front of her says with a giggle, “You’re not from around here, aren’t you?”

Momo shakes her head, failing to come up with a coherent response, she’s still busy wracking her brain for a logical explanation.

“You’re from the city?” 

She comes up with nothing.

“Yes but that doesn’t explain what happened. W-What the — how?”

“Magic,” the girl says simply, looking at her as if she’s waiting for Momo to freak out or run away but Momo doesn’t. She remains in her spot and throws her a look of disbelief.

“You’re kidding.” Momo replies, this seems to throw the girl off for just a microsecond. But she hides her shock away and wears a mask of nonchalance in its place.

“Nope. How else do you explain flowers popping up from the ground on my whim?” The girl tells her seriously, like Momo insinuating that it was a joke was absurd. She waves her hands again and makes flowers sprout up again, proving her point.

Momo throws all her logic and all scientific explanation she’s tried so hard to conjure up in her brain out the window and admits to herself that what had happened was real, that it isn’t some kind of illusion or hallucination brought on by the heat nor was it a really elaborate party trick or prank that Jeongyeon and Jihyo might have planned behind her back.

She squats beside the bouquets and stares at them in admiration, she can feel the girl’s eyes bore into her but she doesn’t mind, she’s too distracted by the blossoms in front of her. They look ethereal; their colors are vivid, livelier than the sad looking daffodils the girl had held out to her just a few minutes ago, livelier than the flowers and plants she’s seen all over the town, “They look —”

“ _Alive_ ,” the girl finishes, Momo swears she can hear disbelief in her voice. Momo tears her eyes away from the plants and turns to look at the girl. Her face held a skeptical expression, brows furrowing together as if she was thinking too hard, racking her brain for an answer she knows she’s in there.

“They’re amazing.” Momo tells her. The girl doesn’t speak, her eyes flit to Momo and she stares at her with the same befuddled expression. They lock eyes and after what Momo feels like eternity, the phone in her bag rings loudly. The redhead blinks, the blaring sound pulling her out of her dazed state.

Momo looks away and fishes her phone out of her bag before hitting the answer button on the screen, “Hi.”

“ _Hey, I’m about to go over to the bakery to have lunch with Jeong. Do you want to join us?”_ Jihyo asks from the other line.

“U-Um, yeah sure. I’m on my way.”

She hears Jihyo say, “ _Okay! I’ll see you later,”_ before the line goes dead.

Momo turns to the girl who’s now busy examining the freshly grown flowers and clears her throat, “I’m gonna go now.”

The girl smiles softly before looking at her again, “Okay.”

Momo finds herself smiling back, there’s something about the girl that didn’t seem dangerous, a familiarity that made her feel comfortable, made her feel _safe,_ “I’m Momo, by the way.”

“ _Momo_. Like the peaches,” the girl repeats wistfully, that soft smile still on her beautiful face, “I’m Sana.”

 _Sana,_ Momo repeats inwardly, she briefly wonders why it sounded familiar, why it sounded like a lost lullaby. She doesn’t dwell on it, instead, she gets up to leave but before she could even get far, the girl — Sana calls out to her.

“Wait,” she says again, getting to her feet and catching up to the short distance Momo has created, “Take this.”

Momo sees her hold out a stem of bright yellow freesias, she smiles despite herself as she reaches out and takes the flower.

“I’ll see you around, Momo.”

She gives Sana a smile before walking away, it’s not long before she throws a quick glance over her shoulder but Sana’s already gone; the only proof of her existence are the flowers that had sprung from the ground where they both stood just minutes ago.

\--

Sana walks into the woods in deep thought.

She’s on her way back to her cottage, still barefoot, and plants poke out of the ground the second she takes a step. She’s trying to make sense of what had happened earlier, she doesn’t know where to start — the overwhelming sense of familiarity she felt when she and the girl locked eyes or that the flowers seemed to look better when Sana grew them for her.

Momo.

Like the peaches.

Sana’s soul screams _I think I know you._

A thought intrudes the logical part of her brain and Sana doesn’t entertain it, she pushes it away before it fills her head completely with maybes and what ifs. Because from all the years Sana has spent alive, she’s long discovered that there is nothing much more dangerous than hope.

She’s too distracted with trying not to think too much that she doesn’t notice the butterflies that are following her. One flies near her face and her reflexes make her swat it away before she even realizes that it’s a harmless butterfly and not some kind of mosquito.

Tiny ones, big ones, blue ones, pink, white — several more fly around her, breaking Sana’s concentration. She glances around the area trying to look for the person she thinks is responsible for this. She grins when she sees a flash of periwinkle behind the tree to her right.

“Tzuyu?” she calls out.

She hears a disappointed groan echo along the entire area before a girl peeks out from behind the trunk, “Damn it.”

Sana laughs, “The butterflies gave you away.”

Tzuyu huffs, finally stepping out of her hiding spot, “They _meant_ to. I was showing off how much in control I am of them now.”

“Well, I’m impressed,” Sana replies, making a move forward to wrap her arms around her in an embrace. Tzuyu reciprocates. “You stopped visiting the West”

Sana can hear the despondency in Tzuyu’s soft voice, and suddenly she feels ashamed.

“I’m sorry,” she says when they pull away.

Tzuyu looks her in the eye, there’s an understanding between; Sana’s always fucked up during the spring, “And you aren’t answering any of our texts or calls either.

“I…” Sana trails off, recalling how her phone landed square on a rock after throwing it at Mago the night before, “lost my phone.”

Tzuyu shakes her head, “Mina’s worried about you.”

Sana frowns, “Only Mina?”

“Nayeon and I too,” Tzuyu replies with an eye roll, “Of course.”

The redhead sighs deeply, taking a seat on one of the protruding roots of the redwoods that grew in that neck of the woods, “I just got caught up with… stuff.”

“I know.” Tzuyu tells Sana as she sits beside her. She does know, she was there a hundred years ago, she saw Sana’s world fall apart completely. Tzuyu stretches her arm out lazily and does a soft, quick wave of her hand, instantly, the butterflies circle around them. Sana smiles to herself, watching the winged insects hovering in the air.

Tzuyu repeats her earlier sentiment, “You stopped visiting the West.” The smile vanishes from Sana’s face, she opens her mouth to respond but no words come out. Tzuyu lets out a chuckle, “You don’t have to defend yourself or anything. It’s about time I visited you anyways.”

Sana nods once, glad that Tzuyu let it pass.

“You always disappear during spring.” Tzuyu continues, “That and you’re extra irritable.”

Sana cracks a smile at that, “Am I now?”

Tzuyu nods, “Absolutely. The entire town looks gloomy and don’t think I don’t know you’ve been chucking rocks and pebbles at Mago since March. It’s all she talks about every time she meets up with us, Nayeon finds it hilarious.”

Sana laughs loudly, “It’s not like I’m actually hurting her. She doesn’t let herself materialize when she’s around me.”

“I think she’s scared of you.”

“Why would she be?” Sana says, snappier than she intended, “She’s much more powerful than the four of us combined. She saw to it that we knew that.”

Flashes of blood and dead bodies in the streets fill Tzuyu’s mind making her shudder, a century in and the memory of that dreadful day still sends shivers up her spine. Sana takes Tzuyu’s silence as an agreement, even though the latter was the youngest, barely even thirteen when she got pulled into this cruel mess one century ago, Sana knows Tzuyu has seen enough horror and death to last her several lifetimes. She gets angry all over again; fuck the gods, fuck Mago — Tzuyu, Nayeon, Mina, and herself did not deserve to go through the shit they were put through.

Sana’s expression turns into a scowl, her brows knit together as she sends a pebble whizzing forward with her foot. “Mago can complain all she wants but that’s not going to stop me from hurling rocks at her.”

She watches it land on the ground several feet away from her, “That isn’t even a fourth of what she deserves.”

Tzuyu nods doesn’t speak, she doesn’t need to — the sun disappearing and the clouds above her turning dark and heavy already say a lot.

\--

“Weird. It was hot outside just a few minutes ago,” Jihyo mumbles, peering out the glass window on the bakery.

Right next to her, Jeongyeon hums softly, “Well, if it’s going to rain then it’s great. The weather’s been weird since March rolled in. Minatozaki must be upset again, spring isn’t supposed to be _this_ warm.” She throws a quick glance outside the window before shrugging and proceeding to munch on another sandwich.

“I know. It’s always like this during springtime here though. It’s like the sun’s been punishing us or something.” Jihyo says as she pushes her plate away from her, stretching her arms over her head, “Anyways, I am _full_.”

“What do you think about the bread I used? I used my secret ingredient.” Jeongyeon asks, then she adds smugly, “I added onion soup mix.”

“So that’s what it was,” her girlfriend grins, “It was really good, babe.”

“Really? I haven’t begun selling it yet. Just made a special batch just for you.”

“If you start selling them, I’m gonna have to steal them and have them all for myself.” Jihyo tells her, a conniving grin spreading across her face.

Jeongyeon rolls her eyes, “You’re terrible for this business.”

“That’s rich coming from someone who’s been taking the potted succulents I was about to put on display at the shop.”

“You don’t understand, babe. They’ve become my _children_.”

“You’re such a child.”

“Ha ha.” Jeongyeon says sarcastically before poking the side of Jihyo’s neck with her index finger. Jihyo tries to slip away from her girlfriend attack but she fails, her shoulder and her jaw close in on Jeongyeon’s finger in an attempt to lessen the tickling feeling. They both giggle as the try to stop the other’s attacks.

Momo doesn’t pay attention to them, she has been silent for a long while and she’s been absentmindedly staring either at the wall or at the single stem of yellow freesias she’s put on the table ever since she got back from her walk. Jihyo finally swats Jeongyeon’s arm away from her and she notices Momo spacing out.

“Are you okay?” she asks, waving a hand in front of her friend to get her attention. Momo snaps out of her daze and blinks, “Uh yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking.”

Jeongyeon looks at her, arching one eyebrow up in curiosity, “How did your little expedition go?”

Momo straightens, stiff shoulders slacking downward, “It was fine. The town seems like a really great place.”

“Right? Did you go to the docks?” Jihyo asks, Momo gives her a nod in response, “It’s even more beautiful there at night.”

“I met a girl.” Momo blurts out.

Jeongyeon puts the remainder of her sandwich down on her plate, “Where?”

“At the park near the woods,” Momo tells them, “it’s not haunted by a malignant spirit or something, right? Because she was _weird_.”

“Weird how?”

“Well we… _talked_ for a bit before you called. She gave me this before I left,” she says, holding out the flower. She doesn’t tell them how the girl — _Sana_ , sprung them out of the earth at her own will. Momo knows her friends would think she’s lost her mind.

Jihyo looks at her in confusion, “She’s weird because she talked to you and gave you a flower? Mo, she probably just found you attractive.”

Jeongyeon laughs, “Jesus, Mo. Did you get her name at least?”

“Yeah her name’s —” the sound of the wind chimes near the door cuts her off before she could finish. Two boisterous kids, a small chubby boy and a girl, enter with their mother, their giggles fill the bakery as they rush towards Jeongyeon and give her hugs.

“If it isn’t my two favorite customers,” Jeongyeon greets them with a grin.

“Did you save the special eclairs for us? Did you? Did you?” the girl, Hayoung questions excitedly.

Jeongyeon ruffles the top of their heads and gets off her chair, “Of course, I did.”

“I want the chocolate ones!” the boy declares.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go get them.” Jeongyeon tells the kids, taking them to the counter.

The mom shoots Jihyo and Momo a rueful smile, “Sorry, they were really excited to get here.”

“It’s alright, Mrs. Do.” Jihyo replies, face fracturing politely.

“I better go and check if poor Jeongyeon is still alive,” the woman says still beaming.

Jihyo nods and waits for the lady to reach the counter before turning her attention back to Momo.

“So, was she pretty?” she asks.

Momo looks at her quizzically, “Who? Mrs. Do?”

“What? No, I meant the girl you met. Was she pretty?”

Momo hums softly and thinks back to Sana’s face, how her jaw is perfectly curved, her nose, how the sunlight made her irises seem like there were floating specks of gold in them, thinks of her hair resembling a flashfire.

She finds herself cracking a small smile.

“Yep. Most definitely.”

\--

“Please don’t make it rain,” Sana whines, her lips forming into a small pout, “I’m not dressed appropriately for it.

“Is anyone ever appropriately dressed for a rainstorm?”

“Yes.” Sana huffs.

Tzuyu scoffs. “You’re so dramatic. It’s not like you can’t stop it from hitting you.”

“Still.” Sana argues firmly, “I hate rainstorms.”

Tzuyu crouches to the ground, she gently puts a palm against the soil and feels it, “It’s dry. Rain would be good.”

“I made it rain a few days ago.” Sana counters, crouching beside the younger girl. She takes a pinch of dirt and rubs it between her thumb and index finger. Tzuyu watches her carefully, waiting for realization to smack Sana in the face. The recognition comes as a soft exhale, “Okay maybe I haven’t been making it rain enough around here.”

Tzuyu chuckles. “Make it drizzle, at least.”

“Fine.” Sana replies before extending her arm upward and waves her hand slowly, soon enough the already greying clouds grow even darker before droplets of watering begin falling seconds later. The raindrops don’t touch them, Tzuyu’s got them both surrounded by an invisible, umbrella-like dome.

“Chaeyoung likes spring showers,” she murmurs, watching the rain fall steadily.

“Chaeyoung?” Sana asks, the question slipping out of her mouth before it dawns on her, “Oh.”

Tzuyu’s face softens, her eyes look glassy and Sana wonders if the girl was about to cry, “I found her again in this life, can you believe that?”

Sana hums quietly. “Yeah, actually, I do.”

“It took me longer to find her than the last time. I was scared I wouldn’t, you know? I was scared she didn’t exist in this one.”

“You shouldn’t be,” Sana answers, voice almost inaudible, “You might miss a couple of lives but you and Chaeyoung somehow find your way back to each other eventually.”

Tzuyu doesn’t say a word, Sana doesn’t expect her to. They both sit there, listening to the soft patter of the rain as it hits the ground.

“Why did you stop?” she asks after a long pause.

“I never found her, Tzu. It sucks a lot because we went through all these different lives but I never found her.” Sana tries not to cry, the frustration she’s pushed back down after looking and looking and finding nothing, is rearing its head again. “Not even once.”

“She could be in this one. Or maybe the next.”

“I kept telling myself that but a hundred years after and still no one,” Sana replies quietly, “I just took it as a sign that she’s gone forever.”

\--

It rains for the whole afternoon and for the rest of the evening, ultimately killing their plans of dining out in the main square. So Momo volunteers to cook — steamed brown rice topped with chicken seared in a honey garlic sauce — and they eat dinner at home. They watch a few reruns of Running Man before retiring to their bedrooms.

Momo dreams of the girl again that night.

_Don’t do this._

_Please._

The scene glitches, shifting focus.

Ah, this one’s new. There’s a lot of red.

There are several clumps of what looked like lifeless sacks all around her, and the girl is still in front of her, sobbing — desperation weighing heavily on every breath she’s taking. Momo smells something burning.

_Please, don’t._

She hears a clap of thunder, shrill screams and wailing fill the air, another sack falls down next to her feet. She realizes it’s a human body. She dreams of herself turning around before getting swallowed by a very bright light.

She wakes up screaming and gasping for air, her cheeks are wet with tears. She looks around, trying to reassure herself that she’s okay, there are no dead bodies, no girl, nothing.

Momo falls back on her bed but she doesn’t get much sleep after.

\--

In the morning, Jihyo takes her to the flower shop, telling her about how the business is going, where she gets her supplies. Momo’s only half-listening, smiling and nodding when she thinks it’s appropriate, her mind still muddled with the nightmare from the night before.

Momo almost tells Jihyo about it, almost tells her that she’s been having it since a few months ago, that last night was the most terrifying of them all. But she doesn’t, she holds her tongue and hopes that the flower shop serves as a good distraction for the day.

She’s introduced to the only other employee who works with Jihyo: Dahyun, a girl with hair the color of aster and a smile that could cure cancer. She’s lived in the town her whole life, Jihyo reveals to which Dahyun confirms with a nod. They spend their time chitchatting as they arrange bouquets and flower baskets until Jihyo and Dahyun leave her while they set off to deliver the ones they’ve finished. Momo stops them and tells her she can do it, that she’s gotten to know the town enough to make a few deliveries, and that they’re both more knowledgeable about manning the shop than she was.

Jihyo acquiesces and tells her to call her if she needed help before sending Momo off. The latter busies herself with biking around the town to deliver orders, trying her damnedest not think about destruction and sadness of the girl from her dream.

\--

Sana takes Tzuyu out around the town.

The younger one hasn’t visited the place in a while, preoccupied by her responsibilities to her own kingdom, so she takes it upon herself to tour her around. They make themselves visible, they get a lot of stares as they journey around the metropolis. Their existence isn’t a secret, the kingdoms know who they are and what purpose they serve, but they usually keep to themselves and only come out when they want to, so when they actually come out it’s inevitable to catch citizens gawking at them.

Still, the stares don’t bother them and they continue walking around in their casual outfits — Sana’s in loose black pants, a striped tank top, while Tzuyu’s clad in her loose pinstripe pants and a white square neck top — as Sana shows Tzuyu around, making sure to list all of the new and cool places that have been established while she was busy in the West.

“There are a bunch of new stores here, one of them is a bakery. I overheard people say it’s home to the best bread in all four kingdoms. I have yet to try it though,” Sana drones on, “There’s also a new coffee shop where you can paint using coffee, I went there once and ended up punching the owner right in his face.”

Tzuyu looks appalled, “What? Why’d you do that?”

Sana shakes her head. “He was being a pervert, leaning over to ‘check out my work’,” she says, putting air quotes on the last three words, “obviously the only thing he was checking out was me.”

The younger guardian shudders, “Didn’t he recognize you or something?”

“He’s from some place far, I guess. France? I’m not sure.

“Well, he deserved it.”

“He truly did.”

They continue roaming around a while longer, shopping at food carts to buy hotdogs and soda, talking about Tzuyu’s girlfriend while they look for stuff Tzuyu could bring home to her. Sana turns to a corner and they end up in a row of stores near the clock tower, they pass by a few cafés, and some place that promises to serve you ice cream in a hundred ways. They’re about to enter an antique store when Sana stops in her tracks. Her eyes are glued to a familiar head of blonde hair getting off a bicycle just half a block ahead.

“It’s her,” she whispers, still staring.

Tzuyu, who takes a few seconds to notice that she’d almost left Sana outside the store, skips back to where she is, “Who’s her?”

“ _Momo_.” Sana replies as if Tzuyu’s supposed to know who she is. She points to a girl handing out a bouquet to a shop owner. Tzuyu raises an eyebrow, unable to clearly see the girl’s face. The older girl chuckles, “She’s a girl I met at the park yesterday.”

“And she’s important because?”

_Because she seems familiar._

“Because she thinks I’m weird.”

“Sana, we all do.”

“Shut up.” Sana says with a pout, “She caught me talking to the flowers I was growing and she asked me if I was okay.”

Tzuyu laughs loudly, Sana’s grown to appreciate hearing it especially since there was a time when Tzuyu barely even spoke. “Okay, a lot of people do that but it _is_ funny when it’s a random girl wearing a poofy dress, barefoot and alone in a flower field.”

Sana nudges her with her arm, “Whatever. She isn’t from here but she didn’t run away or freak out when I showed her my powers.”

“She probably just went into shock.” Tzuyu deadpans, finishing the last of her hotdog and throwing the paper wrap in one of the rubbish bins.

“Ha ha. Very funny. I’m gonna go talk to her.” Sana declares, beaming, already moving towards Momo.

“Fine. I’ll go ahead and look for souvenirs inside,” The younger one tells her, then she rolls her eyes at Sana’s grinning face, “Let’s just meet for dinner later.”

“See you!” is the last thing Sana says before rushing forward. Tzuyu shakes her head and pushes the shop door open.

\--

Momo has just finished her second batch of deliveries for the day. Jihyo insisted she take Dahyun and the van with her so she won’t get bored but Momo insisted she was okay going alone. It has been exhausting but biking around town and delivering flowers has been serving as a good distraction from everything that’s been bothering her. She’s surprised she’s gotten the hang of it rather quickly.

“Orange blossoms?” a familiar voice asks from beside her.

“And Versilia roses,” Momo replies, unflinching. She looks up from the bills she was counting, recognition paints her face for a split second when she sees Sana before arching an eyebrow, “What happened to your poofy dress?” She looks completely unbothered by Sana’s sudden appearance, like she knows she was already going to be here.

Sana lets out an involuntary laugh. “What? Don’t I look good in pants?”

Momo takes a look at her, eyeing Sana as she folds her arms across her chest, “Well, you do.”

Sana places a hand on her chest and bats her eyelashes at Momo, “Oh, I’m flattered.”

The blonde rolls her eyes, “What are you doing here?”

“I came looking for flowers.” Sana replies, wide-eyed, looking Momo in the eyes, trying prove her innocence.

“Yeah right. I literally watched you grow them out of the ground yesterday,” Momo counters seriously, “or was I hallucinating?”

Sana shrugs, “You weren’t. And fine, I was roaming around town when I saw you half a block away. Figured I could chat with a friend.”

“We’re friends?” Momo asks, amused.

“Yellow freesias mean friendship, you know.” Sana says like it’s common knowledge. Momo thinks of the said flower sitting in a vase on her nightstand.

“Do they now,” Momo trails off.

Sana nods, “So that was me offering you friendship,”

“Should I feel lucky?”

“Maybe? I used to make a lot of friends before but I barely talk to other people at all these days.”

“Are you some kind of weird hermit with powers?”

Sana laughs again, Momo decides she likes how it sounds, “Why? Does that scare you or something?”

Momo finds herself shaking her head, “Honestly? No. I mean you’re still weird but I don’t think it’s a dangerous kind of weird.” She backtracks and looks at Sana in suspicion, “You’re not a malignant forest spirit or something right?”

“Do I look like a forest demon to you?” Sana asks cutely, batting her lashes and showing Momo a little pout.

Momo fake gags.

“Aw, you wound me, Momo! I’m not going to hurt you, you know.” Her voice turns softer, “You’re safe with me.”

The blonde inexplicably feels an overwhelming amount of fondness, but she’s good at hiding her emotions so she conceals it with a shrug. “Alright. Whatever you say, forest demon.”

“Not a demon,” Sana corrects. She motions to the flowers in Momo’s basket and asks, “Are you delivering flowers around town?”

“Yeah. I’m helping my friend out for a while,” Momo tells her, “I need to deliver one last bouquet a few blocks over before I can call it a day.”

“Let me help you with that.” Sana suggests. Momo doesn’t decline but she doesn’t get on her bicycle and speed off so Sana comes along, matching Momo’s pace — just helping out a friend as well, she tells her. They engage in conversation as Momo pushes the bicycle forward, they argue about ice cream flavors at one point and it all feels so natural. There’s no awkwardness, it’s like they’re old friends catching up with each other after a long, long time. Sana realizes she hasn’t laughed or giggled in years as much as she did throughout her whole conversation with Momo, that she hasn’t felt this comfortable with someone else besides her friends in a very long while.

The flowers and the trees begin to look better as they pass by.

They drop off the last bouquet and Sana offers to walk Momo back to the flower shop, finding herself not wanting their conversation nor their time together to end. She feels her heart flutter when Momo accepts her offer. They fall back into conversation again; this time, Sana’s telling Momo about that one time she fell posing like Superman off her bicycle. Momo bursts into guffaws when Sana recounts how her parents just clapped and sang the Superman theme song.

“How old were you?” Momo asks between laughs.

“Six or seven?” Sana answers. _In this life,_ she wants to add but she keeps mum. “How about you though? Any embarrassing shit you can tell me?”

Momo looks away at a distance, thinking deeply. “Well, when I was a kid I used to be a genius,” she begins, tone serious. Sana looks at her questioningly, “Used to be?”

The blonde nods. “Yep but when my classmate accidentally pushed me into a wall, my head bled out and I think all the brain cells I had went with it.” Momo actually pauses in her tracks as she narrates, acting out how the blood was supposed to be flowing out.

This time, it’s Sana who laughs. “Is it weird if I tell you I find that cute?”

“You think it’s cute that I hit my head?” Momo asks, an eyebrow raised.

“No.” Sana says, “I think it’s cute when you act out your stories.”

Momo feels the heat rise up to her cheeks and she’s glad the sun’s almost disappeared because Sana seemed like the type to tease her about it when she sees Momo blushing because of her. She hides the stampede that’s raging inside her stomach and rolls her eyes at Sana before they begin walking again.

“Are you flirting with me?”

“Maybe.”

“You’re shameless.”

“I know.”

Momo doesn’t tell her off, she only gives Sana a bemused look before they start talking again.

\--

They reach the flower shop when it’s already dark. She can see Jihyo and Dahyun’s vibrant purple hair inside the shop. She can hear their laughter ring out as well and she guesses Jeongyeon must be inside too.

“Well, this is my stop.” Momo says, she rests the bicycle against the side of the wall, one foot kicking down the bike stand gently. She turns to Sana and it dawns on her again how beautiful the girl is, even with just the streetlights illuminating her face. “Thanks for uh, tagging along. I had fun.”

Sana nods. “Me too,” she says, beaming softly. Momo finds herself smiling back.

This is the part where they kiss, this is the part where the feel their lips touch and hear explosions as the earth cracks wide open until nothing else is left on the surface except for them.

Momo looks at Sana, eyes flitting down to her lips for the briefest of seconds. Sana looks back at her and Momo wonders if she’s thinking of the same thing.

This is where they kiss.

Momo blinks, looking away.

No. Not yet.

“Take this,” Sana says, handing Momo a purple aster. The latter takes it and gets to the door, “I’ll see you around.”

Sana waves adorably when Momo throws her another smile before pushing the door open.

\--

Tzuyu’s already fast asleep when Mago visits Sana again that night.

She’s on a fallen log outside her cottage, head buzzing with thoughts she doesn’t really want to entertain when the all too familiar bright light emerges from the fields. Sana doesn’t throw rocks or pebbles at her, she just sits and waits.

“No rocks tonight?” Mago asks.

“Nah. Figured it’s pointless when it doesn’t actually hurt you.” Sana replies, shaking her head. “Why are you here?”

“The flowers looked better today. Not nearly as good as they should look but definitely better than before.”

“Is that all?”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do they suddenly look better?”

Sana scoffs loudly, the desire to chuck rocks at the goddess beginning to rear its head again. So much for a calm night, she thinks bitterly. “Do you want them to look awful again?”

“Of course not. I’m just wondering how they went from terrible to looking very… full of life.”

Sana rolls her eyes. “I guess I just got over everything that’s been weighing me down the past hundred years,” she says, tone dripping with steely sarcasm.

The light doesn’t bother giving her a response.

“You’re no fun.” Sana huffs, she brings her knees to her chest and stares at the fireflies dancing around the fields, “Fine. I met someone.”

“And that person is the reason for all this?”

“Maybe,” she mumbles, “I’m still confused about it.” Sana waves a hand almost lazily, purple asters break out from the ground and she stares at them as she continues, “She showed up at the fields yesterday and all of the sudden the flowers and everything else began to look better.”

Mago stays quiet, the crickets fill the silence surrounding them.

“I feel like I know her.” Sana tells her, finally acknowledging the thought that’s been lingering at the back of her mind since the day before.

Mago finally replies. “Maybe you do.”

“Do you think it’s her?” Sana asks, feeling like a small, lost child.

“You would know.”Mago tells her, “You would know.”

\--

Momo wakes up the next morning and sees a cluster of wildflowers sprouting on the part of the yard right outside her window.

 _Sana_.

She gets up for breakfast and doesn’t even try to wipe the smile off her face.

\--

Sana goes with Tzuyu to the North.

Tzuyu first lets her know on her last night with Sana in the East. She waits for Sana to recoil or brush her off like the girl often does when travel is suggested during springtime. It surprises Tzuyu that it didn’t take too much to convince Sana to go with her but she doesn’t press on, she’s just glad Sana’s putting an effort to feel a little better.

“Your enthusiasm is suspicious,” Tzuyu tells her in the morning as they move around the forest. Sana skips beside her, jumping on twigs scattered on the forest floor and throwing her a smug grin. “I haven’t seen them in months! Let me be excited.”

“Well, I’m glad you are.” The younger one puts her parka on when they reach a gigantic camphor tree at the heart of the forest.

Sana eyes her, “It’s also spring time there.”

“I know. But Nayeon likes to throw in random rain showers,” Tzuyu tells her matter-of-factly, “and it’s colder up North no matter what season.”

“Right. Nayeon likes the cold.” Sana exclaims with a groan, she frowns down at her hoodie before casting a glance at Tzuyu, “You think this’ll do?”

Tzuyu gives her nod. “That’s probably fine.” She turns her attention to the tree in front of them and places her palm flat on the trunk. Sana folds her arms across chest and watches as the trunk caves in, extending inward. The gaping hole of the tree trunk glows brightly as it settles, waiting for them to step inside.

“Oldies first.” Tzuyu says, giggling softly.

“I’m telling everyone you’re being mean to me.” Sana replies, pouting for a brief moment but she ends up snickering as well before stepping inside the portal. Tzuyu laughs as she follows her inside.

\--

Sana only realizes how much she had missed her friends when she sees them again the moment she and Tzuyu arrive. She’s embarrassed by the tears she’s actually shedding when she sees Mina and Nayeon waiting for them amongst the birch trees around the portal. Nayeon is indeed making it rain but Sana doesn’t even bother pulling up her hood before dashing towards them and pulling them into a tight embrace. A part of her is scared that they’d give her shit about disappearing yet again but fortunately, her friends don’t say anything. She feels her throat close up at that but she manages to let out a “ _Wow, you look really good in blonde, Minari”_ anyway.

She spends her days eating brunches with all three of them, walking around the Northern Kingdom, and of course getting grilled about her new _friend_.

It’s Tzuyu who opens the floodgates.

“Sana left me for a girl.” Tzuyu announces, lips forming into a pout. All eyes turn to Sana, they all stare at her in surprise — except for Nayeon who looks at her disbelievingly.

“How could you do that to our baby?” Nayeon gasps dramatically.

Sana rolls her eyes, “She suggested we split up.”

Nayeon shakes her head, feigning disappointment, “I can’t believe you met a girl after all these years of being a recluse.”

Sana tosses a grape at her, “You know, you sound jealous.”

“Maybe.” Nayeon replies, playing along. She puts the back of her hand on her forehead and closes her eyes, like an overly dramatic Southern belle, “I always thought you and I would end up together.

“Please.” Sana scoffs, “Like you would ever trade Mina for someone else.”

“She technically can’t.” Mina interjects, resting her chin on her palm, “Soulmates and all.”

Nayeon looks at all of them with a shit-eating grin on her face. “I’m glad I can’t, it’s not like I would want to either.” Her grins turns soft as her eyes land on Mina beside her.

A faint red tint colors the latter’s cheeks, Nayeon’s good at many things and that includes making Mina blush. Mina covers her eyes with her hand, trying to fend off Nayeon’s gaze, “Shut _up_.” Nayeon lets out a boisterous laugh, “Why are you so cute?”

Sana and Tzuyu both let out a groan.

“Stop. Please stop.” Tzuyu laments.

“Get a room. You’ve been together for over a hundred years.”

“You’re practically married.”

“Yeah, you practically raised both of us.”

Nayeon sticks her tongue out at Sana, “You’d be the one I would disown.”

Sana throws another grape at her causing Nayeon and Tzuyu to erupt into giggles.

“ _Anyway,”_ Mina says, turning her attention back to Sana, “you met a girl.”

“I met a girl.” Sana confirms.

“Is she nice?” Mina asks, “Do you think it’s… her?”

“She’s nice and beautiful and funny and really, really great to talk to.” Sana replies, holding back her tongue from saying more.

_And it feels like I’ve known her forever._

“You didn’t answer the other question though.” Nayeon probes, gazing at her curiously, “Do you think it’s her?”

_Maybe._

Sana avoids her questioning stare and tries to ignore the hint of expectation and hopefulness in Nayeon voice. “I don’t really know.”

She has a hunch, if she is being honest. Deep down there’s this feeling, but again, she doesn’t want to hope; it’s dangerous and she doesn’t know if she could take another disappointment.

The table falls silent, Tzuyu looks down on her plate, pretending to be interested in the kiwi slices she had. Mina nods slowly and Sana pretends she doesn’t notice the look of pity in Nayeon’s eyes.

\--

Momo doesn’t see Sana around again for a few days, she unconsciously searches for her red orange hair in the fields where they first met, hear head automatically looks up when the door of the flower shop pushes open.

But Sana doesn’t appear for a long while and Momo wonders why.

\--

Sana’s thoughts wander towards Momo all throughout her stay in the North.

She thinks of her when she walks around the gardens outside Nayeon’s mansion, thinks of her when she wakes up, when they go out around the kingdom. She thinks of her when she’s getting destroyed by Mina in Mario Kart and wonders what video games a city girl like Momo likes to play.

Sana doesn’t sleep for most of her stay there either. Her chest somehow feels full, there’s a certain kind of longing present, a yearning for a long lost love.

But that is not what keeps her up, it’s the constant battle of her soul telling her, “ _you’ve found her”_ and her mind screaming “ _no”_.

 _It’s impossible,_ she thinks.

Momo would have remembered.

\--

Momo begins thinking that she might have actually gone crazy and that Sana doesn’t really exist but when Momo sees flowers sprout up from the soil one morning while she does her workout in their yard, she finds herself letting out a breath of relief.

Sana is real.

She picks one and takes it inside, butterflies on a rampage inside her stomach every step forward.

\--

“Wake up! Wake up! You’re going to hang out with me again today, loser!” Jihyo announces loudly, knocking on Momo’s door. The latter ties her hair into a lazy bun before opening the door.

“I’m up,” she says, making Jihyo beam proudly.

“Great. We should get going.” Jihyo says, turning on her heel to head to the front door.

“Busy day today?” she asks, following Jihyo out in the small hallway.

Her friend nods, moving towards the couch to grab her bag. “Not really, we just have a lot of deliveries to tend to. I should handle them today, you can stay with Dahyun at the shop.”

“Alright.” Momo stops at the kitchen to grab an apple, she hears the front door being pushed open and she rushes to follow Jihyo outside.

They cut across the front yard and Momo notices flowers growing on the path her feet are touching, her footprints marked by purple asters and freesias.

A smile forms on her face — the flowers have become constants, a day does not go by without her seeing them break through the soil when she’s outside.

“Aw, you’re smiling so early in the morning,” Jihyo says as she looks at her with an expression that is both skeptical and entertained.

Momo chuckles. “The town looks prettier today.” She motions to the view, and indeed it is beautiful; it looks less gloomy, and it seems brighter— like the fog has been lifted after several years of dull grey.

Jihyo rolls her eyes at her friend’s dramatics, “Seriously though, you seem cheerful. Not just today.”

“I am?” Momo asks breezily.

“Yep. Does this have something to do with your new friend?” Jihyo asks back, eyebrows wiggling suggestively as they pass by a familiar row of shops.

It’s Momo’s turn to roll her eyes. “No.”

Jihyo throws her a smirk. “I see through you, Hirai.”

“You can’t prove anything.” Momo says, sticking a tongue out like a child before sprinting towards the flower shop. She reaches the entrance before Jihyo catches up to her but she remembers that Jihyo had the key so she shoots her friend a look of disgust.

“Oops.” Jihyo teases, waving the key in front of Momo. The latter whines loudly, earning bouts of giggles from her friend before they enter the store.

\--

Sana bids goodbye to her friends and promises to start attending their meetings with Mago again. She promises to call them more frequently and she promises to get better.

Mina pulls her aside as they walk towards the woods. It’s a chilly morning all thanks to Nayeon and her love for cold weather.

“Are you okay?” she asks, as gentle as she always is. She looks Sana in the eye and Sana does her best to look away, putting her hands inside the pockets of her hoodie as she conjures up an insurmountable amount of courage to lie to her.

“I am.”

Mina raises an eyebrow. Sana sighs in resignation, it’s a quick defeat. Nothing gets past Mina after all.

“I will be.”

“Okay. Call us when you need us, okay?” Mina beams softly.

Sana nods and returns her smile. She steps inside the portal and walks out with only thoughts of Momo.

\--

Jihyo sets off for deliveries two hours later, leaving Momo with Dahyun to man the store.

It wasn’t a particularly busy day so they spend their time talking and doing random things to pass the time — Momo’s attempting to make a flower arrangement out of the flowers they were deemed unusable for today’s bouquets while Dahyun has her nose buried in a book.

“Why’d you choose to work with flowers?” Momo asks her, adding a few light green carnations into the vase.

Dahyun looks up from what she’s reading and hums thoughtfully. “My parents had this really beautiful rose garden, I fell in love with them and flowers in general. Plus I think the language of flowers is very interesting.”

“That’s really nice, Dahyun.” Momo replies as she places white carnations into the arrangement.

“What about you? Why’d you leave the city?”

Momo pauses. “It got suffocating, to say the least.”

“Are you planning to go back there?”

“I don’t really know. I’m liking it here a lot.”

“This town is real great,” Dahyun grins brightly, they both hear the door swing open, “especially when the weather’s nice and— holy shit.”

Momo looks at Dahyun’s dazed, almost star struck expression and gets confused, she turns to where Dahyun is looking at. She sees Sana standing there looking like the human embodiment of the first day of spring.

After days of not seeing her, Momo is quickly greeted by her otherworldly beauty. She has a dress on again this time; it is floral patterned, it rises above her knees, and the straps are neatly tied, her red orange waves pinned daintily on the sides.

“Hi. You look pretty,” is what Sana says first.

“What are you doing here?” Momo asks, choosing to ignore the compliment in a feeble attempt to stop her cheeks from reddening.

Sana walks towards her, pretending to be offended, “I said I’ll see you around.”

Momo looks back at her, pretending to be unimpressed even though her heart was beginning to hammer violently inside her chest. “Ha-ha.”

“Didn’t you miss me but at all?” Sana wails like an expert actress portraying a scorned lover.

“Nope.” Momo replies with a slight shake of her head. Dahyun pokes her side, “Um. Mo —”

Momo figures the younger girl is probably concerned about how she is treating a customer so she waves her off. “Don’t worry, it’s just Sana.”

“Just… Sana?” Dahyun repeats, eyes flitting across the counter and towards Sana who shoots her a radiant smile.

Momo nods confidently, keeping her blasé attitude up. “Yep. She’s the girl I met at the fields the day after I got here.”

“Uh, excuse us,” Dahyun says, clearing her throat before gently pulling Momo aside and whisper-yells, “are you telling me you know the Eastern Guardian?”

“What?” Momo whispers back, beginning to feel befuddled.

“That’s Sana, _the_ Minatozaki Sana.”

 _Minatozaki,_ the last name rings a bell, she remembers Jeongyeon mentioning it days ago.

“Um,” is all Momo manages to say, brain short circuiting.

“She’s the Guardian of the Eastern Kingdom, she’s incredibly powerful and she owns the whole land!” Dahyun whispers frantically.

Momo looks away wistfully for a few seconds before nodding slowly in realization, “Ah, that explains why she can grow flowers at her own will.”

“And you didn’t wonder why?!”

Momo just gives her a shrug in response.

“I can’t believe she’s here.” Dahyun says in shock, “And I can’t believe you didn’t know who she is.”

“Magical girls who grow flowers weren’t really taught in schools in the city,” Momo replies, tone dripping with light sarcasm, “Relax. She’s a weirdo.”

“Oh my god, don’t let her hear you, you’re gonna get us killed—”

“Hi, I’m still here.” Sana interjects, still smiling sweetly. Momo and Dahyun both turn around to face her.

“This is Dahyun. And apparently I think you kind of sent her into shock.” Momo tells her, giving Dahyun a soft nudge. The latter gives Sana an awkward wave and this makes Sana chuckle, “I’m sorry. Uh, it’s probably because I rarely go out and… meet people the past couple of years.”

Dahyun lets out a nervous laugh. “It’s okay! What can we do for you?”

“I’m actually here to ask if Momo’s free for lunch.” Sana says, placing her elbows on the counter as she look at Momo.

“I might be busy,” she replies, caught off guard by Sana’s bluntness.

“You’re unbelievable.” Sana pouts, “Dinner?”

“How are we supposed to meet up?” Momo questions further, wondering how far Sana would go. Sana is interesting, mysterious, and Momo had just met her a few days ago but there was something about her that made Momo trust her, something that made her so god damn appealing. She’s not going to deny it — Sana is attractive and apparently also powerful in every sense of the word. Still, Momo is convinced that she needs to keep at least a modicum of control before she gives in.

“You can text me.”

“I didn’t know magical girls owned cellphones.”

Sana laughs dryly. “Ha-ha. You wound me.”

“I don’t have your number.” Momo says, pointing out the obvious.

Sana gasps loudly, she raises an arm and points an index finger to her temple in an overtly enthusiastic manner which reminded Momo of the hosts from the kids’ shows she used to watch when she was younger. “Looks like I’m going to have to give it to you,” Sana says.

“Jesus fuck,” Dahyun mutters at the side, choking on her laughter.

“How very blunt,” Momo comments but she digs her phone out of her pocket and hands it to her anyways.

Fine, she thinks to herself, _fine._

Sana breaks into a grin, accepting the phone and quickly inputs her number. Momo shakes her head, Sana doesn’t have to rush, Momo wasn’t really going to change her mind anyways— she liked her.

“There,” Sana says when she hands Momo her phone back, “you can text me when you’re at the main square later.”

“You’re bossy.” Momo responds as she puts her phone back inside her pocket. Sana looks at her smugly, “Well, I’m pretty powerful so I _can_ be bossy.”

Momo scoffs, there’s no way she’s going to let Sana win all the time. “I didn’t even know who you were, Miss Big Ego.”

“You’re so mean.” Sana says, erupting into giggles before leaning over the counter and poking Momo lightly on her cheek with her index finger, “I’ll see you later.”

Momo swears she feels like Sana just lit her on fire — she doesn’t know why it feels like it wasn’t the first time, why it feels like her skin has felt Sana’s touch a million times over already. She ends up staring dumbly at Sana, unable to process properly.

“Nice to meet you, Dahyun!” Sana says with a warm smile before disappearing out the door.

As soon as Sana leaves, Dahyun turns to face Momo with a shocked expression. “You’re going on a date with the Eastern Guardian.”

Momo blinks her thoughts away and clears her throat. “Not a date.”

Dahyun looks at her, the disbelief in her expression vanishing in mere seconds, making way for a teasing grin to spread across her face. “Denial is a baby.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it goes.”

“Ahhh,” Dahyun says breezily, waving a hand in front of her like there was smoke, “I can’t believe you’re trying to steer the conversation away from your date.”

Momo tosses a discarded stem at her. “Fine, fine. Stop teasing.” Dahyun holds her hands up in surrender but doesn’t wipe the grin on her face, Momo just sticks her tongue out childishly. Dahyun laughs one more time before they turn their attention back to the flower arrangement and stay quiet for a few short minutes. It doesn’t take long before Momo puffs out a breath and stares at Dahyun.

“You know what? Why don’t you tell me everything you know about her?” Momo says slowly, hoisting herself up on the countertop.

“Sana?” Dahyun questions. Momo gives her a nod and Dahyun’s eyes light up in excitement, Momo swears she could see them twinkle. The younger girl drags a tall chair closer to the counter to match before rubbing her hands together and saying, “I thought you’d never ask.”

\--

There’s four of them, Momo learns, one for each kingdom.

From what Dahyun tells her, they are a formidable team that has powers that could practically wipe everything out of existence but are tasked with protecting the kingdoms and the people instead.

“No one really knows where they came from or exactly how long they have been around but they’re different girls every time one cycle finishes.” Dahyun says, Momo’s face twist in mild confusion as she waits for Dahyun to continue, “Kind of like a reincarnation thing, Mo.”

“Are they celebrities or something?” Momo asks.

“Kind of? Myoui Mina from the South is from a really powerful family, famous too. Even before she was born.”

“Myoui? Like from the Myoui conglomerate?” Momo asks, incredulous

“Yep! The family that practically owns all of the Southern Kingdom and several huge corporations in the city.” Dahyun confirms. “Im Nayeon and Chou Tzuyu are pretty popular as well. They keep to themselves but all three of them are treated like celebrities and leaders. _Really_ reclusive celebrities.”

“What about Sana?”

“Well, Sana’s immensely popular too. She has a lot of “ _fans_ ” and admirers but like she’s said earlier, she doesn’t really go out and interact with them. The other three are more social compared to her and that’s saying something.”

Momo raises her eyebrows in disbelief. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Dahyun replies, nodding, “even in past cycles, it’s her that’s always so distant and mysterious.”

Momo twirls with a carnation absentmindedly, “Hm.”

Her attention is slipping, her head is full of thoughts about Sana; her poking Momo on the cheek, how her touch felt like the first drop of rain after a long drought, how every second she’s with her feels like they’re reliving a memory that’s buried too deep to clearly recall.

“It shows too.” Dahyun continues, unaware of Momo’s distractedness, “The Eastern Kingdom has been the gloomiest out of the four and it’s the one that has very weird weather patterns.”

Momo nods, thinking back to the frustration in Sana’s voice when she overheard her talking to the flowers she was growing. “I’m sure she has her reasons.”

“Are you excited though?” Dahyun asks, the playfulness seeping into her tone again.

“You could say that.” Momo replies softly. She thanks Dahyun for telling her what she knows and they both focus on other things while they wait for customers to arrive.

Momo reaches for her phone again.

 _Hey,_ she types, snorting when she sees what Sana saved her number as, _do I have to dress up?_

Sana doesn’t take long to reply.

**THAT WEIRD GIRL FROM THE FIELDS**

**[11:45 AM]**

surprise me ;)

**Me**

**[11:46 AM]**

all i needed was a yes or no

**THAT WEIRD GIRL FROM THE FIELDS**

**[11:47 AM]**

booo ur no fun :(

would it have been better if i said

it won’t matter because u look great either way?

Momo laughs out loud, Dahyun casts a brief glance at her before turning her attention back to her book. Momo doesn’t see the gentle smile playing on the younger girl’s lips.

**Me**

**[11:48 AM]**

ur such a loser

**THAT WEIRD GIRL FROM THE FIELDS**

**[11:49 AM]**

:(

**Me**

**[11:50 AM]**

ur a cute loser

is that better?

**THAT WEIRD GIRL FROM THE FIELDS**

**[11:51 AM]**

much better <3

**Me**

**[11:52 AM]**

good.

i’ll see u tonight :)

\--

Sana takes a walk on the other side of town that afternoon, too distracted to care about where her feet are taking her. It’s quiet, less crowded with establishments and people, only the cobbled streets and the worn out cottages and cabins serve as a reminder that there was life here once.

 _It’s her_.

She would know, she would have remembered.

 _But why,_ she screams inwardly.

Why did it feel like the world ended when she first saw Momo?

Why did she take one look at her and her soul immediately said, _ah, I finally found you?_

 _It’s her_.

Sana keeps walking, her heart twists into millions of knots — it’s dangerous to hope.

She arrives at a forest filled with gingko trees, it’s bright and sunny. Sana blinks, chest rising and falling quickly.

“Fuck,” she mutters, realizing where she is standing.

_There’s an explosion. Screaming. Crashing bodies. There’s blood. A bright light — Mago. Fire. More blood._

She hasn’t come here in years.

Sana falls to her knees, the tears start to fall and the sun hides behind grey clouds above her and Sana makes it rain.

_It’s her._

_Please, just let it be her._

\--

It’s nearing twilight when Jihyo gets back from delivery duty.

“I’m here!” she announces, taking her coat off. She looks disheveled, hair wet from the rain that afternoon.

“I have a date.” Momo tells her once she reaches the counter. Jihyo puts her coat on the counter and arches up an eyebrow.

“Wow, Hirai. Just a week in and you’ve already got yourself a date. I’m impressed.” Jihyo says with a smirk, putting cash into the register, “With who though?”

“Just the Eastern Guardian,” Dahyun calls from the aisle, nonchalant. She and Momo wait for Jihyo’s reaction.

Jihyo nods. “Ah, just the Eastern Guardian.” Then she backtracks, looking at Momo then Dahyun then back to Momo again, “Wait. Really?”

“Yep.” Momo answers simply.

“How the hell — is she the girl you — holy fuck.” Jihyo says, blinking as she tries to process the information she’d just heard. “ _She_ barely comes out,” her friend continues, “and you managed to land a date with her? That is _big_. She must really like you.”

A chuckle bubbles up Momo’s throat, “I must be lucky then.”

“You should, I don’t know, be careful.” Jihyo says gently, “I’m sure she’s nice but she’s closed off. You don’t really know her. No one really knows who she really is besides what we’ve heard from stories.”

“Ji—”

_It feels like I do._

“Mo, I’m happy for you. I’m just telling you to be careful. She’s… unpredictable, I mean look at the weather.”

She shoots Momo a glance, carefully observing her face as it turns indifferent like she always lets it. Jihyo’s seen it many times before; it’s how Momo hides how she really feels because she hates all sorts of confrontations including one with just herself. “It’s just dinner.” Momo replies, trying to keep it casual. She waves a hand dismissively and steps out of the counter, moving to where Dahyun is.

Deep down Momo knows it isn’t.

It’s crazy but the comfort and familiarity she feels with Sana is immense, it’s too great for Momo to sweep under the rug, too intense to ignore. The feeling is foreign, it’s different from the way she felt in all her past relationships. She likes her — wants her, she confirms to herself while she helps Dahyun take out the dried up flowers from the display racks. And Jihyo’s right, Sana is a stranger but all she knows is that she needs to know everything about her.

She wants Sana, wants to see where this would take them, and she figures it doesn’t have to make sense for it to be enough.

\--

Sana runs away from the clearing and floats up a tree as soon as she’s gotten far. She settles on one of its sturdy branches, feeling safer and calmer as she rests her back against the trunk. She continues to let the rain drench every inch of her and closes her eyes as she tries to control her breathing. But her limbs hurt and the rest of her body feels heavy, Sana knows she isn’t going to be her best self that night so conjures up the invisible dome around her and dials up Momo’s number from her phone to tell her they need to take raincheck on their dinner plans.

She chuckles softly despite herself, _raincheck_.

The line rings twice before Momo picks up and answers.

“ _Hey,_ ” she greets from the other end, the sound of the rain disappearing. The weight in her chest vanishes with the sound of Momo’s voice and is replaced by something else — comfort. The effect it has on her is too big to ignore, so it must mean something.

It has to.

“Hi,” Sana greets back, voice a little hoarse from that afternoon’s breakdown, “where are you?”

“ _On our way home,_ ” there’s a short pause, “ _are you okay?_ ”

“I — yeah, I’m okay.” Sana stares up ahead and sighs, “Just a little out of it.”

“ _That explains the rain.”_ Momo remarks with a soft laugh. _“We don’t have to go out tonight if you’re feeling terrible, there’s always tomorrow._ ”

“Okay,” Sana replies, arms resting on her knees. She bites her lip and closes her eyes, she’s slipping, she’s beginning to hope, “I, um, I want to see you though,” she takes a deep breath, “Can I see you?”

Momo hums thoughtfully. “ _Yeah. I — uh,_ ” she hears her sigh, “ _I want to see you too honestly._ ”

Sana feels her lips crack a smile.

“I didn’t doubt it for a second. I’m irresistible.”

She’s slipping.

Momo already has this effect on her.

It has to mean something.

She hears the trill of Momo’s laughter from the other line and her smile grows.

“Shut up.” Momo says, “Don’t make me regret admitting it.”

If it isn’t her — god, she’s setting herself up for heartbreak.

“You _like_ me?”

“I do.”

She hears other voices in the background with variations of “ _ohhh Momo get a room”_ and other teasing sentiments. She hears Momo shush them.

She’s beginning to hope.

“Momo, that’s gay.”

Momo groans in frustration, “I _know_.”

“I guess I’ll see you tonight.” Sana says with a soft giggle.

“Where are we meeting though?”

“Wanna go to the ports?” Sana offers.

“The ports then.” Momo agrees.

\--

It stopped raining but the night grows colder when Momo heads out to where they’re supposed to meet; the earth is damp and it clung to the soles of her sneakers, the sea is calm. She spots Sana on one of the benches along the boardwalk and picks up her pace. 

“Hi,” she says when she reaches her. Sana opens her eyes and her face lights up when she sees Momo’s face. “Hi.”

“Were you sleeping?” Momo asks, taking a seat on the space beside her. Sana shakes her head. “Nah. I was just thinking.” The girl stares at the sea in front of them, the corners of her lips turning slightly upward. Momo watches her; she’s wearing a big purple hoodie and black yoga pants, her hair is in a messy ponytail. Sana looks different from all the other times they’ve seen each other, still beautiful, but different.

She smiles, looking away and turning her gaze unto the water. “What does a powerful being like you even think about?”

Sana puts her knees up on the bench and pulls them close, resting her chin on them. “A lot of things, actually.”

“Like what?” Momo asks, genuinely interested.

“You’ve heard about the multiverse theory right?” Sana questions, she glances at Momo, eyes expectant. Momo’s intrigued, the topic is out of the blue. She had expected Sana to tell her about kingdom problems, anything else but not this one.

Sana’s multifaceted, it’s quite intriguing.

“I’ve read about it.” Momo answers lightly, “Doesn’t that theory consider the possibility of parallel universes?”

Sana smiles, “Yeah.” She stares at the sea again, there’s a calm and thoughtful look on her face. “It could mean that there are infinite versions of us out there, living completely different lives.”

The wind feels colder, pushing past the thick fabric of Momo’s sweater. She copies Sana’s position and waits for her to continue.

“And if that’s the case then it means that there are probably a lot of Sanas and Momos out there living really shitty lives.”

“That worries you?” Momo replies.

“I don’t know. It makes me wonder from time to time, like, who gets to decide if this Sana is going to live a terrible life and this Sana doesn’t?” Sana asks, there’s a strain in her voice. Momo hears the frustration from when they first met.

“It has something to do with luck, I guess.”

“That’s shitty.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, there might also be a bunch of Sanas and Momos out there living pretty amazing lives.”

Sana looks at her, dark amber eyes looking almost sad. “Do you think you’re one of them?”

“My life is far from perfect but I have good friends and family so I can’t say it’s terrible. I’d like to think I’m one of those Momos.” She lets out a breath, “What about you?”

“I don’t know,” she murmurs.

Momo finally returns her gaze, she feels her throat close up when she’s greeted by the sight of Sana being unhappy — almost miserable.

“There was a point in time where I thought I was but,” comes Sana’s reply, there’s a quiver in her voice that makes it sound like she’s about to cry, “I’ve lost a lot since then so I began to think I was one of the shitty ones.”

“And you still think that now?”

Sana stares at her, _please let it be you._

“No.” Sana answers. “I mean, I met you so it’s not all that bad.”

Momo laughs then. She shakes her head, feeling her cheeks heat up again, “You’re so… _shameless_.” Sana laughs too, finally. She sees Momo with this huge smile on her face, hearing her laughter sounding like wind chimes swaying against a light breeze, and she swears it’s her.

There’s a flash of a memory.

A meadow on a late August thunderstorm. Sana. Flowers glowing in the mist. And it’s _her._

Sana blinks herself back to reality and sees Momo.

They stare into each other’s eyes, maybe they’re at the part of their story where they kiss.

_It’s her._

So this isn’t the part where they do but this is the part where Sana knows.

This is the part where she jumps head first into hoping.

And this is the part where she waits for Momo to remember.

**Author's Note:**

> yet another samo fic from me? u got that right. anyways, here pls read my purely self indulgent samo fic aka the result of me wanting to write bout fairy sana and wanting to give u a nice little romantic fic before i update the divorce au (bc it's going to hurt. probably. you'll see)
> 
> i hope you all like this one! chapter two will follow soon.
> 
> i'm _momorings on twt btw hehe


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